THE NEW YORKER, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
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taining business supported by what is
essentially racketeering. I am not de-
fending the excesses committed by the
N.S.A., but I urge my fellow-citizens to
pay more attention to the increasing tyr-
anny of the police in our communities.
Leo Cotnoir
Binghamton, N.Y.
1
HISTORIC APPEAL
John Cassidy, writing about Detroit's
bankruptcy, suggests that the city "raze
its semi-abandoned neighborhoods"
(Comment, August 5th). In doing so,
he overlooks the ways in which historic
and cultural resources can contribute to
a city's future prosperity. Detroit has
more than two hundred properties and
districts listed in the National Register
of Historic Places, and, until recently,
Michigan had one of the country's most
effective state historic-tax-credit pro-
grams. According to research conducted
by Rutgers University, developers and
entrepreneurs in Detroit used the federal
historic-rehabilitation tax credit to bring
$681.6 million in private investment to
fifty-seven historic-rehabilitation projects
between 2001 and 2012. These projects
have also created more than nine thou-
sand permanent jobs and contribute to
an attractive, walkable community that
draws a diverse group of young profes-
sionals to the city. Similarly, Detroit's
neighborhoods are filled with historic
homes, churches, and community re-
sources that stand ready to be revitalized.
Many historic places will be affected
by targeted demolition, but the historic
significance of buildings---and their abil-
ity to contribute to the future revitaliza-
tion of Detroit---should be factored into
any plans to "right-size" the city.
Stephanie Meeks
President, National Trust for Historic
Preservation
Washington, D.C.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
Sarah Stillman, in her piece on civil for-
feiture, exposes the long-standing abuse
of those laws; there is, however, another
monstrous abuse that she does not men-
tion ("Taken," August 12th & 19th).
This involves the seizure of assets from
people who are unaware that it is a federal
crime to "structure" bank deposits so that
a sum larger than ten thousand dollars is
deposited in a series of smaller trans-
actions. The law's rationale is sound: it
gives the government a way to track large
amounts of cash moved by potential ter-
rorists or drug dealers. But its reach is
much broader, ensnaring law-abiding cit-
izens who do not want to carry large sums
of money with them, or who want to
keep the amount of their cash savings pri-
vate. The price they may pay for their fear
is the forfeiture of all the money in a given
account, even money that has not been
deposited in a "structured" way. This is
true even if the money has been come by
honestly. In one such case, one of my cli-
ents, who made sandwiches for a large
chain, cashed her weekly check for years
and kept the money in her basement. The
total amounted to a hundred thousand
dollars, which she then deposited in
amounts of less than ten thousand dol-
lars. The entire sum was seized, resulting
in a lengthy and costly battle with the
government, which even threatened to
charge her criminally.
Jonathan Shapiro
Visiting Professor of Law, Washington
and Lee University School of Law
Lexington, Va.
Stillman's story on civil forfeiture, and
her follow-up blog post on police-arrest
tactics ("Swat-Team Nation," new-
yorker.com, August 8th), make clear that
threats to constitutional rights and civil
liberties come not only from the federal
government, including the N.S.A., but
also from local police. Police and prose-
cutors, in committing these abuses, pay
little attention to the letter, let alone
the intent, of the law. Even worse is the
fact that many local governments have
turned law enforcement into a self-sus-
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